The writer and director of the first film – James Gunn – also penned the screenplay for the sequel. Overall, I very much enjoyed seeing the continuation of the Guardians story but I did feel that the first act of the film was a bit wonky. I thought that the set-up involving The Sovereign was choppy. In addition, The Sovereign were not utilized in a useful way throughout the rest of the movie (they just popped up in the third act because the film needed to have an even bigger space battle – they were basically the sequel’s Nova Corps). Plus, the fact that Aysha was interested in Peter’s heritage and, in the very next scene, Peter’s dad Ego suddenly appeared seemed as just too much of a coincidence.

The jokes and the banter at the beginning also seemed a bit forced. They were the bad kind of cheesy. However, as the picture progressed, the humor got way better and the narrative also found its footing and started to unfold quite cohesively. GOTG 2 just needed those first 30 minutes to get going and it could afford that, being a 2h+ movie.

I also really liked the character development in the film. I loved learning more about Peter, his past, and his dad. Ego was a wonderful addition to the cast and I also really enjoyed the fact that they turned him into a villain. And he actually was a good Marvel villain – menacing and threatening! I liked the fact that his and Yondu’s backstories fit together quite organically as well. I’m just worried that the filmmakers might have overpowered Ego – I can’t imagine what will Thanos be like?

A character which surprised me a lot was Yondu – I did not think much about him in the first film but the reveal of his backstory and true feelings towards Peter made him into a wonderful character. Sucks that he met his end as soon as I started to like him. The other new addition to the Guardians (well, sort of) was Nebula – I did enjoy learning more about her and thought that her and Gamora’s relationship progressed nicely. The definite newcomer – Mantis – was also a fun new inclusion. I loved the duo she and Drax made.

Lastly, I loved the thematical core of the film – the Guardians coming to terms with the fact that they care about each other and are a family. Yes, the family angle is cheesy and overdone (Fast and Furious in space) but it still works and has a universal appeal.

Directing

James Gunn, once again, directed the movie (and he also just recently announced that he will be back to helm Vol. 3). I believe that he did a great job. The visual design was just extraordinary, especially the visual realization of Ego in his various forms. I loved the landscapes of his planet as well as his appearance as a human. The visual sequence of Ego rebuilding his human body from a skeleton to being Kurt Russell was really impressive. The fact that they actually put a face on a planet was also really cool and a neat nod to the character’s representation in the comics. Another great visual sequence was Yondu’s ‘Ravager’s funeral’: it was so colorful and actually emotional. An extremely funny visual was the space travel facial distortion – it was such an unexpected but really brilliant gag.

The ‘money shot’ – the round shot of all the Guardians standing together was also just glorious. The camera work, in general, was very vibrant and elaborate – and it made the action look amazing. The opening shot was really great too – the focus on the Baby Groot with the action happening in the background was a really inventive and funny way to kickstart the film. Generally, Baby Groot was a complete scene-stealer. Huge props to the CGI department for realizing an animated (basically) character and adding so much personality (much more than the adult Groot had) to his movements and facial expressions. I also loved the fact that his size was an asset to the team and that Baby Groot was part of a final solution, not just the cuteness relief (a cute version of comic relief). Lastly, I loved the two visual gags and how they were both part of the story and fun references to the real life – I, of course, am talking about the cameos by David Hasselhoff and Pac-Man.

Music

The film’s soundtrack was also really good – equal to the soundtrack of its predecessor. Tyler Bates was responsible for the music but I think Gunn also had a hand in picking the songs. I also appreciated the fact that the music was half-diegetic and a part of the story.

Acting/Favorite Character Moments

Chris Pratt (Passengers, Jurassic World, The Magnificent Seven, The Lego Movie) as Peter Quill / Star-Lord. Pratt was really good in the role – he has that infinite charm of a leading man and I can’t wait for him to appear on screen with other MCU leading men, like Robert Downey Jr. I also though that Pratt’s and Kurt Russell’s/Ego’s (The Hateful Eight) chemistry was believable. I bought them as father and son for a while and that scene with the ball was really touching and a nice callback to Peter missing out on this type of activity during childhood because of a lack of father figure.

Zoe Saldana (Star Trek Beyond) was also good as Gamora, my favorite shot with her was when she picked up that oversized gun. Her and Karen Gillan’s/Nebula’s (The Big Short, The Circle (premiering this weekend in the US as well)) chemistry was good and the banter – really enjoyable.

Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer. Bautista’s acting abilities have improved since the first film and his unapologetic and unironic comic relief was amazing. His budding relationship with Pom Klementieff’s Mantis was also lovely. Their scene on the steps was really moving. Klementieff was a nice addition to the cast and her performance was appropriate for the character.

Michael Rooker as Yondu Udonta. The scene-stealer of the film. I loved the sequence where he used the arrow to escape from the Ravagers. It was just spectacular. I would have loved to see more of Rooker’s performance in subsequent films, but, oh well.

Vin Diesel (Fast&Furious) as the voice of Baby Groot I have no idea why Diesel returned to voice Groot when Baby Groot sounds nothing like Vin Diesel. Well, at least they can put his name on the adverts and posters and that will get them a lot of money in China.

Bradley Cooper (War Dogs, Joy) as the voice of Rocket. Cooper’s voice somehow fits Rocket’s appearance and behavior. I loved how the actor depicted the character’s dry sense of humor.

Elizabeth Debicki (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) as Aysha. While Debicki did look cool with all that gold make-up on, I don’t think she took the role seriously enough. Her acting seemed a bit cheesy but I am excited to see where her character’s story goes next, cause my favorite moment with her, performance-wise, was her delivery of a few lines during the mid-credits scene. In that scene, she sounded way more ominous and authenticate than she did in before.

Sean Gunn as Kraglin. I really liked the fact that we got to see more of Sean Gunn’s on-screen character during the sequel. If you didn’t know, he also does the motion capture for Rocket.

5 CREDITS SCENES

As James Gunn promised, the film had 5 scenes during the credits (that has to be some kind of record). 2 scenes played before the credits, 2 in the middle and 1 after. They were very well dispersed and the credits themselves did not feel long at all. The scenes were mostly related to the predeceasing film but they also set up some minor but long awaited stuff.

The first pre-credits scene depicted Sean Gunn’s character Kraglin learning to work with Yondu’s arrow and failing at it. It was both funny and developed the story further.

The second pre-credits scene showed Sylvester Stallone’s (Creed) character reforming the Ravagers out of the characters who were the original Guardians of the Galaxy in the comics. Their inclusion during the credits probably means that they will have a role to play in MCU or at least in GOTG Vol.3. It was also nice to see another scene with Stallone as he only appeared in a handful of them during the main runtime of the movie. It was basically just a cameo and if the role would not have been played by a big name talent like Stallone, no one would talk about it.

The first mid-credits scene was a conclusion to The Sovereign’s plotline and a potential set up for the arrival of the long anticipated character – Adam Warlock! I really hope he finally shows up in the next film!

The second mid-credits scene was probably my favorite out of all of them: it showed the teenager Groot acting as a typical teenager, while Peter attempted to be the Dad. Groot is kinda the child of the Guardians. What a dysfunctional yet lovable family.

The last scene which came at the end of the credits was another Stan Lee cameo. He had a cameo in the main part of the film but it was also nice to see him again. I read online that they film a lot more scenes with Lee than they actually use, so it was quite neat that they found a place to use some more of that material.

I’ve just come back from the cinema where I’ve watched the newest Marvel movie. I have been eagerly waiting for Captain America: Civil War since it was announced and I can’t wait to discuss it with you. I’m also predicting that this post will be quite long, so prepare yourselves! I’ve already done a review of the graphic novel that this movie is based on, so I invite you to read that blog entry before checking out this review! You can also find the reviews of other MCU movies here: Captain America 1&2,Avengers 2, Ant-ManandGuardians of the Galaxy.

IMDb summary: Political interference in the Avengers’ activities causes a rift between former allies Captain America and Iron Man.

SPOILER ALERT

Audience

Just before I start talking about the movie, I would like to mention a few things about the audience of the film. I complained in BvS’s review that there were only a few female viewers in my screening. Well, Civil War’s screening was also male-centric but there were more female viewers than in the BvS. The screening that I went to was also solely adult, which was kinda weird. Dark DC films are not as appropriate for children as the lighter Marevl films and yet there were a few kids in BvS and no children in Civil War. This might have just been a coincidence, but I still found it strange and worth mentioning.

Writing and Story

Captain America: Civil War was written by a long-time duo of screenwriters – Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. They have written all previous Captain America’s films, Thor: The Dark Woldand will be scripting both parts of the Infinity War. I believe that they more than succeeded with the story of Civil War. In general, Marvel/Disney has done it AGAIN. They not only met my expectations but exceeded them.

To begin with, this film was not an adaptation of the Civil War comic book, and that may annoy some people. Captain America: Civil War was a sequel to Winter Soldier, a continuation of Iron Man’s trilogy, Age Of Ultron’s sequel and a setup/origin story for the new characters. Civil War arc was the thing that tied all of these story lines together but was not the main focus of the film. I enjoyed the fact that the movie had so many connecting yet different/separate storylines – it gave the feeling of a bigger cohesive universe – Marvel Cinematic Universe – while in BvS all the different plotlines just made the film messy. That’s why you make an epic team-up/versus movie 13th in the franchise, not 2nd.

Winter Soldier sequel – the movie expanded the Winter Soldier’s backstory. We found out that in the 1990s Hydra was operating in Russia – moved from the nazis to the soviets. The movie also introduced the idea that there were more Winter Soldiers but never really went anywhere with it. I would have liked an explanation for that blue stuff/liquid. The new villain of the film (who wasn’t really a villain) also used the info that Black Widow put online at the end of Winter Soldier. Lastly, the character of Crossbones, who was first introduced in Cap 2 as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent (member of the S.T.R.I.K.E. team) was also featured in the Civil War’s opening, while trying to get his revenge on Captain America as well as steal a bio weapon.

Continuation of Iron Man’s story – Tony Stark’s past – his parent’s death – as well as his present actions as an Avenger – played an important role in the film. This film also kinda returned the title of the leader of the Avengers back to Tony. Remember, how at the end of Age of Ultron, Captain America was the one shouting Avengers Assemble? Well, Civil War’s ending kinda suggested that Iron Man is resuming the position of the leader, since Cap is an outlaw now. Or maybe Cap will be leading Secret Avengers? Iron Man became the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. at the end of comic book Civil War, so it’s only right that he is back at the helm of the Avengers in the movie.

The film’s main idea, as well as Zemo’s main objective, was to break the empire from the inside – a.k.a break the Avengers from the inside. And while it looks like he succeeded – he certainly thinks that he succeeded – the hopeful ending of the film with the letter and the phone kinda suggests that the Avengers will be back together. Plus, we, as viewers, know that they will be back together since thy will have to fight Thanos.

Age of Ultron sequel – Sokovia accords, Zemo’s desire for revenge and Iron Man’s guilt originated in the Avengers sequel and were dealt with in Civil War. Also, the woman who confronted Tony at MIT was probably a nod to the comic book Mrs. Sharpe or she might have been an actual Mrs. Sharpe.

The origin stories for new characters: Civil War introduced us to Black Panther and Spider-Man. We got a chance to see T’Challa take on 2 mantels – king’s and warrior’s. We also met the new Peter Parker as well as his aunt – that whole sequence was one of the funniests in the film.

Shout-outs to the missing characters: Both Hulk and Thor were mentioned in the film. The characters wonder about their location and also questioned whose side would they choose. I think it was a good idea to cut them from the film, so as not to overcrowd it, especially when we will see both of them in Thor: Ragnarok

Jokes: during the first half of the film, I kinda thought that Civil War might probably be the most serious film of the MCU with the smallest amount of jokes. However, then Ant-Man and Spider-Man showed up and went to town. I feel like both of their characters represented us – the viewers – and their actions probably mimic the actions that the fans would make if they met their favorite superheroes.

The writers also did an extremely good job with making the viewers understand and even sympathize with both conflicting sides. That’s why the action scenes, where the heroes were fighting each other, were so interesting – the audience did not know who to root for.

Lastly, the film featured a version of the prison for superheroes and it was completely different from the prison in the comics, which is not surprising. Nevertheless, it looked really cool and I wish that we would have gotten a chance to explore it more.

Directing and Action

The Russo brothers did an amazing job directing the film – I am so glad that they will be the ones in charge of Avengers Infinity War Part 1 and 2. In Civil War, The Russos successfully juggled all the different storylines, gave the viewers enough character moments and plenty of exciting and epic action. It looked like action scenes were filmed with a handheld camera (and were actually done in-camera), so the frame was very mobile – it constantly moved and I needed a few minutes to get used to it. However, after that, I enjoyed all the actions scenes immensely. There were so many of them that they all kinda blurred together – I need a second viewing of the film to pull them all apart.

Having said that, even though I’ve only seen the film once, I do perfectly remember those iconic shots with both teams charging into battle as well as Iron Man, Winter Soldier and Captain America fighting at the end. I really really enjoyed the sequence of the big battle because of the different fighting pairs and because those pairs constantly shifted. For example, Black Widow wasn’t always fighting Hawkeye and Iron Man wasn’t always going up against Captain America. Cap had a fight with Spidey and Hawkeye tried going against Black Panther. All of the characters moved around non-stop and fought whoever was in their way.

In addition, the other aspect of the film’s action that I liked was the Avengers, combining their powers – especially Scarlet Witch lifting Cap and then working with Falcon. I also would like to applaud the fight choreograpger – James Young – for his amazing work – all of the action scenes were unique and different yet all equally interesting. Moroever, the movie was set all over the world and I really appreciated the international feeling that it had, since Marvel’s fan come from all over the world. Lastly, the picture had an amazing and emotional score by Henry Jackman, who has previously composed music for X-Men: First Class, Captain Phillips, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Kick-Ass, and Big Hero 6.

Acting and Characters

Although the film had a lot of characters, not any of them felt shoved in – they all fit into the story organically and all got plenty of screentime/development.

Team Captain America:

Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America:Evans was, once again, really great in the role. He is the Captain America and I will be very sad if someone else will take his mantel. This might happen in the near future, as the producers have said that Captain America’s story arc that started in The First Avenger is now complete. Moreover, Evans only has Infinity War Part 1 and 2 left of the contract. The way he dropped his shield at the end might be a reference to the fact that the end is near for Roger’s Captain America. I also really loved that they brought back the line ‘I could do this all day’. If you would like to see a non-comic book movie with Evans, may I suggest Snowpiercer.

Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier:Stan was also really good in the role. I loved the fact that we find out more of his backstory but I would also like to find out even more about that red book and why those specific words trigger something in him. Plus, I liked his friendly (or not) banter with Falcon – I felt like they were fighting for the position of Steve Roger’s best friend. Lastly, a great non-comic book film, starring Stan, is The Martian, if you are interested.

Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Falcon:Mackie’s Falcon is slowly becoming my favorite secondary character (and by secondary I mean that he doesn’t have a standalone frannachise). I enjoyed the shots with him fighting and I loved seeing him use the wings to fight and flip over. I also loved how he and Scarlet Witch combined their powers in the opening action scene. I wouldn’t mind if Falcon would get his own movie or at least would be featured on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. If you want to see more of Mackie but don’t want to wait for him to get his on movie or TV show, check out Triple 9.

Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye:Renner was also great as Hawkeye once again. I have always been a fan of his character, since I love archery myself, so I am always happy to see him, although half of the fandom usually is not. I loved the fact that Civil War continued Renner’s and Scarlet Witch’s relationship – he was the one who talked her into going into battle in Age of Ultron, and her brother was the one to die saving Hawkeye, so it was only right that Clint was the one to break Wanda free. Film suggestion for the fans of Renner – Mision Impossible: Rogue Nation.

Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch: another new favorite. I loved her hand movemets in Age of Ultron and they still look cool in Civil War. Plus, I enjoyed Olsen’s facial expressoons, especially in the opening scene, where she realized what she has done. Also, the way she threwv cars at Iron Man was a pretty great move. Her accent was also consistent and authentic – I especially like her accent because that’s the accent that I have, as an Eastern European (mine is not that strong though). Olsen has previously starred in Godzillaand next year will start in thriller Wind River, alongside Renner.

Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter / Agent 13: I was so glad to see more female characters in the comic book film. I loved the fact that they finally came out and said that she is a Carter and a relative of Peggy’s – Steve’s face, when he find that out was nicely confused. That whole scene, however, was quite sad, because I didn’t want to see Peggy go. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the fact that they gave Sharon some action scenes to participate in and that she was an important informant for Team Cap: while no one can replace Peggy, Sharon might be a great substitute. Her kiss with Steve was only a cherry on top – especially when they showed Bucky’s and Sam’s reaction – that shot was priceless and got the most laughs from the audience during my screening. I would love to see Sharon Carter pop up on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – that would also mean more work for VanCamp – I used to watch her on Revenge, but that series ended a few years ago, so I’m sure that VanCamp would be open for more work.

Paul Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man: I was really happy to see Paul Rudd as Ant-Man. I loved his interactions with Sam as well as his adoration of Cap. And can we just talk about the ‘big distraction’? They turned him into Giant-Man – didn’t even save that for the Ant-Man sequel – and it was epic. The CGI of Giant-Man was also pretty great. Tony Stark’s reaction to him – ‘okay, does anyone on our side have any amazing tricks?’– was also superb. Scott Lang’s line ‘Hank Pym told me to never trust a Stark’ was also pretty great. Ant-Man sequel is scheduled for 2018, so we still have a few years to wait.

Team Iron Man:

Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man:Downey, Jr. could probably play this role in his sleep or, actually, he would not even need to play it, because he is both Tony Stark and Iron Man. I loved the fact that we got to see Downey, Jr. fight as both Tony Stark (that watch was super cool) and Iron Man. The Pepper Pots tie-ins were kinda hit and miss for me, though. Nonetheless, I enjoyed seeing that weird presentation with the hologram of young Tony – the CGI was amazing and that scene also set up the fact that Tony is still dealing with the loss of his parents. Lastly, I would not be surprised if we would get more Iron Man stand-alone films in the near of far future. Then again, Iron Man is set to appear in the new Spider-Man film, so maybe Downey, Jr. will only be appearing in other character’s films moving forward. For those interested, a quite good non-comic book film with Downey, Jr., which was also produced by him, is The Judge.

Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow: an old time favorite of mine (both the character of Black Widow and Scarlett Johansson as an actress). Black Widow was the one who changed sides during the big battle, while in the comics, Spider-Man did that. But, since Spidey is so new to the MCU, it is not surprising that they didn’t use him that much and only featured him in the big battle and in the scenes with Iron Man. Black Widow had a few nice moments with Hawkeye (‘are we still friends?‘) and with Iron Man (‘do you actually agree with me?‘). I still have hope that we will get Black Widow stand-alone film,but until then, check out Johansson in Hail, Caesar!and Lucy.

Don Cheadle as James “Rhodey” Rhodes / War Machine: Cheadle was good in the role, but his injury was not that shocking, since he is a secondary character that was mostly features in Phase 1 and at the begining of Phase 2 and is not really that memorable (basically Rhodes only apperead in Iron Man films and the last picture of that trilogy came out 3 yeras ago – nobody really remembers those film that well, especially when we had so many oher MCU films in the past 3 years). By the way, Cheadle’s other big franchise is Ocean’s Eleven/Twelve/Thirteen films, if you want to see more of him.

Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa / Black Panther:Boseman was amazing in the role and I think that Marvel has succesfully launched a new character with the perfect actor to portray it. I loved T’Challa’s few scenes with his father T’Chaka, played by John Kani. I am also interested to see how the character that Martin Freeman played – Everett Ross – will be featured in the Black Panhter stand-alone film. In the comics, Ross is an ally of T’Challa, but at the end of Civil War, they were on different sides. Although, Black Panhter never truly picked a side – he only chose Iron Man because that suited his personal interests. However, after he learned the truth and realized that killing is not a solution, he kinda picked Captain America’s side. Moreover, Black Panhter is hiding the Secret Avengers, as shown in the middle credits scene. Last thought about the new character – I really liked the accent that Boseman spoke with– it felt authentic and fitting to the character’s heritage. Black Panhter’s stand-alone film is coming out in 2018, but if you want to see more of Boseman, the only other movie of his that I’ve seen and, thus, can reccomend is Draft Day.

Paul Bettany as Vision: I loved the little glimpses of the Vision’s personality that we got a chance to see – his scenes alongise Wanda were nice and their short fight was also interesting. I also liked that scene were Vision and Iron Man were discussing the fact that Vision is an AI with feelings, who is also dangerous, powerful and might even be uncrontrolable. Loved to see this idea developed futher. Other Bettany’s films, worth checking out are Legend, and a few not so great ones that you might want to see – Transendenceand Mordecai.

Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man: I was really worried about the new Spider-Man because in the past 10 years, we already had 2 different Spider-Mans. However, all my worries were for nothing – Holland played an amazing and most true to the comics Spider-Man and the most believable Peter Parker. Now I am really excited about his new stand-alone films. It was also really nice that they featured aunt May, played by Marisa Tomei, in Civil War. I loved that awkward scene between aunt May, Tony Stark and Peter. I was first introduced to Holland as an actor in In The Heart of The Sea– that movie is defintely not as bad as its box office numbers suggest.

Other characters:

William Hurt as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross: I hated Ross in The Incredible Hulk but I disliked him even more in this film, so I guess Hurt did a good job, making me hate the character that he played. Nevertheles, his character was useful in the movies because his presence added a political aspect and increased the sophistication of the story.

Daniel Brühl as Helmut Zemo: Bruhl was really good in the role and he will probably appear in a different MCU film in the future. His story arc in the film – the arc of revenge – was not the most original but it did work. He played up the superheroes against one another in a similar way that Lex Luthor did in BvS. I don’t really know which one of them (if any of the two) was more succesful with his plan. Zemo was not a great villain but I don’t think that the filmmakers intended to portray him as an all-powerful villain. He was just a man, dealing with the loss by getting revenge. Zemo himself has mentioned that ‘more powerful men have went up against the Avengers and lost‘, so he kinda admitted that he was not a great villain. A few of Bruhl’s films that might be wroth your attention are Rush(alongside Thor), Inglourious Basterds (alongside Magneto), The Fifth Estate (alongside Doctor Strange) and Woman in Gold (alongside Deadpool).

Stan Lee had his obligatory cameo, this time as a FedEx delivery man – he also had a very cheesy joke – Tony Stank!

Middle-Credits and Post-Credits Scenes

The Middle Credits scene showed Captain America and Winter Soldier in Wakanda. Bucky is being fridged (literally) until someone figures out how to restore his mind. This scene also gave me an idea that Black Panhter might be the new financer of the Secret(?) Avengers – a replacement for Tony Stark.

The Post-Credits scene was a cheeky teaser for the Spider-Man film. It showed Peter Parker back home, trying to explain to aunt May what happened (‘I just picked a fight with Steve from Booklyn’) and also discovering some toys that Tony Stark created for him.

The actual credits of the film were also quite nice and unique. I loved the addition of those shadowy symbols – Anthony Mackie’s name appeared with wings for Falcon, Paul Bettany has a gem for Vision and Tom Holland had a spider-web for Spider-Man and etc.

In short, Captain America: Civil War was/is my new favorite Marvel movie. It had a great and sophisticated story and plenty of jokes. It has amazing character moments as well as exciting non-stop action. Marvel has done it again, and I couldn’t be more pleased.

Were/Are you #TeamIronMan or #TeamCaptainAmerica? What did you think of the film and are you planning to see it more than once? I usually don’t do multiple viewings of films at the cinema, but I might make an exception for Civil War.

P.S. I went to see this movie again and enjoyed it even more than the first time because I was able to focus on the little details. I also realized 3 new-ish things:

The dialogue was really cleverly written and engaging.

The plot was actually quite complex yet the story was aranged in a way that was easy to follow and not hard to understand – it was sophisticated yet clear.

The movie walked the line between the two idealogies extremely well and neither of the two sides seemed more right or wrong than the other.

So, the time has come to review the last comic book movie of this summer and probably the most disappointing one. Let’s go meet the not so fantastic Fantastic Four.

To begin with, Fantastic Four is actually the first comic book that I have ever read. I also loved the animated series when I was a kid. Even though comic books were not popular in Eastern Europe when I was little, everybody seemed to know who the Fantastic Four were. Lastly, back then I even thought that the 2005 and 2007 movie editions were not that bad. Of course, I changed my mind when I re-watched them only recently. Because of that, I had really high hopes for the reboot. I was hoping that they would get it right this time or that I at least would like it with only a singular watch. Let’s be real – a lot of movie crumble on a closer inspection. But this one doesn’t even need a closer look to come across as really really bad. Let’s get on with my angry rant.

IMDb summary: Four young outsiders teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe which alters their physical form in shocking ways. The four must learn to harness their new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.

To begin with, this movie is based on the Ultimate version of the Fantastic Four, so the origin story is a bit different. Also, the movie tries to make the story as realistic as possible by relying on scientific explanations. I was really excited that they decided to adapt the Ultimate version because I always enjoy seeing something fresh and unique. Moreover, science fiction has been one of my favorite genre of films since childhood, so I was down for some extraordinary science mambo-jumbo. The thing I wasn’t down for – the Foxstudios getting my hopes up after the X-Men Days of Future Past (review) and then crushing my trust in them completely once more. Deadpool please be good. I am begging you.

Directing and Writing

The film is directed by Josh Trank and written by Jeremy Slater, Simon Kinberg and Trank himself. Although, it seems like Fox executives were also involved in the production a lot and their fingerprints are defintely showing. And when the money-driven studio gets in a way of the actual creators, nothing good ever happens.

The movie had tremendous potential and it wasted all of it. The story was okay during the first half, but the ending was terrible. The time jumps made zero sense. The dialogue was cheese and uninspiring as well as full of cliches. The only scene with some interesting dialogue was the one right before they decided to travel to the other dimension and were all drinking in the circle. The Neil Armstrong argument was the best line in the whole film. Sadly, it was short and lasted for just a minute. After that, you had to sit through 100 minutes of awfulness.

In addition, all the character were undeveloped, they never picked a clear main protagonist and tried to develop all of them, but just failed completely. It felt like the movie was missing half the scenes, which probably contained the backstory. Plus, the villain was the most awful of all the characters. They completely ruined Doctor Doom. Also, they didn’t include Sue Storm in the actual experiment that gave them powers but she still got hers anyway. You have one female character, only ONE, and you mess her story up? How is that even possible??

Moving on to the action scenes – there was only like 2 of them. One of them is okay, the other makes no sense. And the CGI…oh God. With the movie that cost this much money and is being made in 2015, you would expect at least the computer effect to look great, but they don’t. It looked like this film was made in the late 90s or early 2000s by some kid in a garage. Basically, it was a cheap looking animation. The only effects that looked quite good were the actual powers of the Fantastic Four. The Thing’s design was okay, but Johnny’s flaming body was the coolest one for me. However, Reed’s stretching abilities were enhanced by allowing him to change his appearance and that scene looked awful. Furthermore, when Sue Storm was flying in her force field bubble, you could clearly spot the places where the cables were attached to her back.

Acting

This movie had an extremely talented cast, who kinda lost their talent while filming. I’m guessing the terrible script made them loose all inspiration to perform.

Miles Teller as Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic. I am a huge Miles Teller fan. I praised him in a separate blog post. But here, he was not that great. He definitely portrayed the nerdy aspect of the character perfectly as well as was a great half-of-a-friendship with Ben, but he was awful as a team leader. His inspiring monologue was so corny and so bad.

Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm / Human Torch. I have no idea why the fans got angry when they changed the race of Johnny Storm. It looks like we are still living in the 19th century with all the racism and discrimination that is going on. I never look at a skin color of the character or an actor. I look at their work and the way they present themselves. I really loved Michael B. Jordan in That Awkward Moment and enjoyed his performance here. He was probably my favorite character and, to my mind, did the best job out of all of the cast.

Kate Mara as Susan “Sue” Storm / Invisible Woman. I have already complained about the creators decision to not include Sue in the actual experiment. Also, once again they made her into an unlikable and not fun mommy type character. It’s not the 1940s!! If you are changing the backstory and the personality of the character, change it for the better and not for worse.

Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm / Thing was quite good. He definitely portrayed the sadness and inner anger of the character well. However, he lacked developed and closure to his story like the others.

Toby Kebbell as Victor von Doom / Doctor Doom……Don’t even want to talk about him. This was not Doctor Doom. He looked weird, his power were weirder and his intentions and actions – weirdest of it all.

Reg E. Cathey as Dr. Franklin Storm. Fox tried to turn the daddy Storm into Professor Xavier of the X-Men or Nick Furry of the MCU. Not surprisingly, Fox failed. Moreover, the supposedly inspiring monologues were terrible.

Tim Blake Nelson as Dr. Harvey Allen. He was as suppose to be the unlikable antagonist of the Fantastic Four. However, since you didn’t really care for the heroes, you didn’t hate the anti-hero either. The government story-line and the militaristic ideas, introduced through this character, were interesting, but the movie never followed up on them.

References

This move didn’t even had a Stan Lee cameo. Seeing Stan always makes the movie better for me, but Fantastic Four didn’t even have that. The only reference which I’ve enjoyed was the Star Trek’s ‘Beam me up, Scotty‘, when the kid Reed Richards was talking about teleportation in the class. That, I though, was clever.

To sum up, the Fantastic Four film took itself way too seriously, it never found a clear direction or a tone. It was way to uneven and a few good performances and interesting lines only reminded us, how good the movie could have been but wasn’t. I don’t believe it will get a sequel. I’m hoping it won’t.

Welcome to another movie review, written by me specially for you. This time, it’s the review of Ant-Man – a film about the superhero with the weirdest name and also, a closing chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 2nd phase. I hope you’ll like it! Enjoy!

To begin with, you probably know that I am a huge Marvel fan, (my previous reviews of the Marvel films: Captain America, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers; thoughts on Phase 3), so I was extremely excited about the film. In short, for all of my fellow MCU fans, I would describe Ant-Man as a mash-up of the first Iron Man and Guardians of the Galaxy. For all of my mainstream readers, I would like to introduce this as a new and really cool version of Honey,I shrunk the kids with some superhero action and surprising amount of seriousness thrown into the mix. Either way, no matter how do I describe this film, it is irrelevant, because Marvel did it again – they made a solid film that pleases the hearts of the fans (mine included) and is enjoyable for the general public (my dad knew nothing about it and liked it a lot).

IMDb summary: Armed with a super-suit with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, con-man Scott Lang must embrace his inner hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.

Spoiler Warning – I advise you to watch the film first and then come back to the review. I will repeat the spoiler warning before talking about huge plot points.

The name

The name of the film suggests that it’s a movie for kids. However, Ant-Man surprises all of us because he is a sophisticated character. I believe that the name might target the film to a different audience that it’s actually meant for. I know one thing for sure: nobody will see this film in my country because the translated name sounds not only childish but stupid.

The controversy

Our world is ruled by social media, so it’s not a surprise that Hollywood secret don’t stay under locks for long. Probably all movie fans and just general internet users know that Edgar Wright spent a lot of time working on the script of the film and he was set to direct it. However, due to creative differences, he left the project and Peyton Reed stepped in as a director. I don’t want to speak negatively about Wright, but I believe that he should have fought for the project or found ways to reach a compromise if he was really passionate about it. His original screenplay is still used in the film with some minor tweaks and he receives the story and screenplay credits, which is nice. Speaking about directing, I don’t know if Wright would have done a better job, because I really liked what Reed did as well. I always try to allow the work to speak for itself, so, before going to see this film, I didn’t want to let these controversies form my judgement. And you shouldn’t give any influential power to gossip as well.

MCU

This is the first film in a long time, which introduces a new character to the MCU in its own stand-alone film. I believe it was 2011 when we got the last stand-alone film of the MCU – the first Captain America. Granted, Guardians of the Galaxy were also new characters in a separate film, but they were still treated as a team and we didn’t have time to get to know all the them well. Ant-Man is a start of a stand-alone trilogy (probably), which can work on its own but is a great addition to the MCU as well.

The first scene of the film not only explains why the Avengers couldn’t be called for help, but also allows Ant-Man to fit in perfectly with the overall arc of MCU. SPOILERS. It was really nice to see John Slattery back as Howard Stark and Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter. Furthermore, the feud between Howard Stark and Hank Pym sets everything in motion flawlessly. Plus, I liked that they found ways to include Hydra and Shield into the plot.

Visuals

The visuals of the movie are stunning. Ant-Man’s powers are really well realized. And the way they used the ants in action scenes was wonderful. I didn’t even know that there were so many different species of ants and that they could do such things.

The first 30 minutes are a bit slow, but the 2nd half of the film has non-stop action, so the work of animators and editors can definitely be seen there in all of its glory. Moreover, while the movie has a weird and funny premise, the shrinking scenes looked were grounded and realistic. You could actually believe that something like that could be happening in, for example, your neighbors house. The CGI work is really really impeccable. I cannot praise it enough.

My favorite scenes were SPOILERS the ones in the subatomic level. That whole ‘outside of reality’ type of a world was extremely cool and pleasing for the eyes.

Montage

As with all superhero films, this one had a training montage as well. This was, however, probably one of the best training montages I have ever seen. It was funny and serious, it felt like the training was useful for the character and that he really had time to grow as a hero. Also, that montage was quite long, so the training didn’t feel rushed, which happens a lot in other films.

The Cameo of an Avenger (SPOILERS)

We knew that somebody from the Avengers team was going to shown up in the film. I wasn’t really surprised that it was Falcon because he isn’t an A-list Avenger (although, he might be one day, if he is the one who picks up the shield). Moreover, the appearance of Falcon (Anthony Mackie) set up the after credits scene were nicely. I think it is safe to assume that if Ant-Man shows up in Civil War, he will be on Cap’s team. Moreover, we cannot forget that Hank Pym hates The Starks, so he wouldn’t allow Scott to pick Tony’s side. Lastly, we had a chance to see the new Avengers base some more, because we only spent a few minutes there during the Age of Ultron.

Also, keep your eyes peeled for Stan Lee cameo because it’s very short. Siri, of all things, has a very funny cameo/reference as well.

Characters and Acting

Paul Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man was really great. I wasn’t familiar with Rudd’s work, because he mainly starred in comedies before becoming the next Marvel Superhero, and I rarely watch comedy movies – I am very picky about them. Anyway, I was extremely impressed with his performance in this film: he sold the action scenes, his comedy was great and I believed his connection with his daughter,

Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne was also really great. I really liked Lily in the Hobbit films when practically nobody liked her there, but I hope that with this film, the people will finally realize what a great actress she is. I will talk more about her in the end (credits).

Also, the way they handled the inevitable falling in love moment between the two leads was amazing. I laughed a lot.

Michael Douglas as Hank Pym was perfection at its finest. It was interesting and refreshing to see a Marvel movie focusing a lot on a more mature and more sophisticated character as well as seeing Marvel Studios casting a seasoned and well accomplished actor in the role. They usually prefer “growing” their own actors.

Corey Stoll as Darren Cross / Yellowjacket was a cool villain. Personally, I believe that Marvel villains are getting better with each film. Yellowjacket was smart, he had a personal connection to our heroes, he had a cool costume and was ruthless with a dash of craziness. What more could you want form a villain?

Michael Peña as Luis was the comedy gold of this film. His scenes and explanations were amazing, especially the matching lip movements and the words. I want to recreate his style of talking with my friends just to confuse them. Also, their whole heist was really funny and had wonderful jokes. ” Back it up, back it up, we are backing up!!”.

Bobby Cannavale as Paxton (Scott’s ex-wife’s new boyfriend who is also a policeman) – was the only character which I felt was irrelevant in the beginning. He was just there to anger Scott and the audience. Granted, he became more useful in the end, but I still believe we would have been perfectly fine without him.

Themes

The film main theme is family dynamics. They explored father-daughter (Hank and Hope; Scoot with his daughter) and father-son (Hank and Scott, Hank and Darren) relationships. Furthermore, ideas like ‘jealousy in the family’, ‘secrets which can break a family apart’ and ‘becoming the person that others think you are’ were touched upon as well.

End Credit Scenes (SPOILERS)

This movie has 2 end credits scenes: one middle credits scene and one after credits scene. Both of them are interesting and they actually mean something. Finally, Marvel movie uses the end credits scenes to set something up as they used to do before, as opposed to Guardians’ end credits scene, which was just a funny Easter Egg.

Anyway, the middle credits deal with Hope becoming the Wasp and taking up her mother’s mantel. I believe that they should have added this scene to the main part of the film, because it is really important for Hope’s character development. Throughout the whole movie, it is hinted that she will become the Wasp and everybody in the audience is hoping for it. Mainstream audiences might not wait for the end credits scene and, therefore, they cannot get any closure, so for them it seems that Hope’s character doesn’t get an ending to her story.

The after credits scene is Marvel at it’s finest. We get to see Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson and DUN DUN DUN Bucky Barnes. Yes, the Winter Soldier has been caught! So, now we won’t have to spend any time looking for him in Cap 3 and we can get straight to the the Civil War story. Moreover, this scene solidifies the fact that Ant-Man will side with Captain America.

All in all, I had a great time with Ant-Man. My dad really liked the film as well and he is not a die-hard Marvel fan, just a general movie goer. He has seen a few Marvel films, so he had a general knowledge of what he was getting himself into, but he still couldn’t understand all the references and he enjoyed the film nonetheless. I highly suggest you go see this movie for the great action, interesting and unique characters, a refreshing small scale story, funny jokes and Easter Eggs. If you are still not convinced, go see it just because it’s Marvel and Marvel never misses! Close off Phase 2 with Ant-Man an start the preparation for Phase 3.

How are doing? Excited for the weekend? Do you have any plans? Well, if you don’t, then I have a suggestion for you – GO SEE THE AVENGERS!

As you can probably tell from my excitement, I’ve already seen it. It officially opens today (on May 1st), but I attended the early screening which was held on Thursday (April 30th).

I’ve waited for this movie for 3 years and was overly excited to see it. And it definitely didn’t disappoint – I had a huge smile on my face during the whole run-time of the film and eyes open as wide as possible.

I think that this movie doesn’t need a summary so let’s just jump into the review. I should also give you a SPOILER warning here. I will try to keep the biggest spoilers out of the review but I really want to talk about the ending, so be aware of it. I suggest you go see it and then get back to this post.

To begin with, I want to talk about the action. Every year, the film industry pushes the boundaries of CGI and computer graphics and this film was no exception. The fight scenes were amazing, the visuals – breathtaking and the Ultron…he looked like the coolest robot you will ever meet. Vision was also a phenomenon but I will talk more about him later.

The script of the film was also amazing: the character development and the witty dialogue were the driving forces of the film rather than the action pieces. Joss Whedon is a genius and I love his sense of humor. I laughed out loud multiple times…especially during the jokes which involved Thor’s hammer or Cap’s “LANGUAGE!”.

Character by character

RDJ, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth were really great in the film but I want to talk about the newbies first and also about the characters which, sadly, do not have their own franchises.

I loved Brutasha, I hope it can continue. Black Widow’s (Scarlett Johansson) back story was shocking but believable…Mark Rufallo’s Hulk’s issues were also realistic and fitting with the whole “the past will haunt you” feeling.

Speaking about Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) – I was always on Hawkeye’s side (I shoot arrows in my free time) and I love the fact that they brought him to the front of the pack. His plot-line’s twist was also really nice.

The newbies: Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. I really loved both of them: the X-MEN Quicksilver was cool but he had only one scene while MCU Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) actually contributed to a bunch of scenes. However, I am not happy with where his character is going but I can see the creators’ reasons behind that…(legal issues and over-crowded-ness are my two guesses). Elizabeth Olsen was great Scarlet Witch, her hand movements were mesmerizing, I can’t wait to see more of her! Because of her powers, we got glimpses of the memories and dreams of the Avengers and that resulted in a plethora of great cameos! Moreover, they accents didn’t bother me! They sounded pretty natural, not perfect but okay. (I’m also from Eastern/Northern Europe but don’t have any acccent because, all my life, I heard only American and British films and TV series, YT videos, etc.).

Ultron (James Spader) – he is the best villain of the Marvel Universe to date. (Even better than Loki, then again – Loki is more like an antagonist and not a straight up villain by now). Ultron is cruel and funny and surprisingly human-like even though he is a robot.

The Vision (Paul Bettany) – that’s now my favorite character of the MCU (move over, Captain America). I love the way he was created: he is half human, half robot, half AI and half God (he has the mind stone soo…). Plus, I was afraid that the Vision and JARVIS would be the same character but they were two distinct human-beings…well, I guess not human but beings.

Lastly, Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) and Nick Fury (Samuel L.Jackson) showed up but we were expecting them. I would love it if both of them appeared more often on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. because in the movies their will always be upstaged by the Avengers and in the TV series they could be the leaders of the pack.

Themes

Age of Ultron touched upon themes like the power of humanity and the level of human error and had a really interesting outlook on war and what it means to be a savior. It underlined the importance of team work as well. By now, almost all of us know what will happen in Civil War, so it will be really hearth breaking to see how the team is divided and how friendships are shattered.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe

I love how they were able to bring so many characters in and tie up all the movies into this one. Although, they could have brought a few other females…(Iron Man vs. Thor dialogue). I also really love their usage of the Infinity Stones in this film. Previously, I thought that they were not working as this big plot device that is pushing all the MCU forward but now everything seems in sync.

Infinity stones used so far:

Space Stone – Tesseract.

Mind or Soul Stone – Loki’s Scepter.

Aether – seen in Thor 2.

Power stone – Orb – Guardians of the Galaxy

In comics there are stones for Mind, Soul, Power, Space, Time and Reality. We are definitely missing the Time gem so far and either Mind or Soul one (depends on which one was in Loki’s scepter and now on Vision’s head). I guess that means that Aether is the Reality stone? I could believe that.

SPOILER WARNING – going to talk about the ending and the end-credits.

So, at the end of the film we got a new line-up of the Avengers. I will definitely miss the old team but I believe that this is not the end for them. Now, let’s talk about Cap’s 3rd film – Civil War. I wasn’t planing on calling it Avengers 2.5 but I think that I will need to because it will have so many characters!

We surely know that Captain America, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, The Vision, Falcon and War Machine are going to be in it. We all also know that Iron Man will be in it. Jeremy Renner also recently said that he will be filming some stuff for the Civil War. The only 2 characters which I think won’t show up are Thor (because he has his own movie and it looked like he went back to Asgard to figure out what is happening there) and Hulk (the ending was really unclear, so I don’t really have any predictions on what is going to happen but I really hope that he will be back – I loved the science bros). And Spider-Man – he will be there as well because Sony and Marvel made a deal. Dam, I thought that Age of Ultron was a bad-ass team up but Civil War will be on the same level or even more awesome.

And don’t even get me started on what will happen in the Infinity War…If we add all the old Avengers + the new line-up + the Guardians + the new characters which will be introduced till 2018 (Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, Black Panther, Captain Marvel and the Inhumans (some of them might only be in part 2)), we will get something epic and spectacular! Don’t forget, we also have the TV characters and the Netflix characters! That would mean that at least 30 characters are needed to battle Thanos who will finally do some work himself ! Avengers 3 mega team up would make my brain explode! But we have to wait until 2018 to get it.

But don’t worry, we still have plenty of cool movies to keep us waiting till then. Ant-Man comes out on July 31st (1 day before my 18th birthday!! Interesting fact – Guardians came out on my birthday last year) and Captain America Civil War will be in theaters in 1 year and 5 days – it premieres on May 6th, 2016!!